“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost
Mr. McNutt, the computer science (both intro to computer science and web development) and the discrete mathematics teacher, has sadly retired. Last year was his final year at Wayne Hills. After agreeing to an interview with Patriot Press Staff, Mr. McNutt shared details about what retirement will look like for him. Here is what he had to say!
Mr. McNutt has shared that in his teaching career, he has “been teaching for 32 years, [his] first year at a rural high school in Pennsylvania and the last 31 years at Wayne Hills.”
Throughout his career, there were many highlights such as “the people [he] worked with and the students [he] taught.”
Reflecting on memorable moments, Mr. McNutt also recounted a moment in Wayne Hills when, “Years ago, when the rules were a little looser, I put a WWE wrestling move on a student and picked him up, upside down in class. The kid was a nudge, but we got along really well and it was just horsing around and the kid thought it was funny. Months later, the parents asked for a meeting because the kid had become unhappy in my class (I was probably holding him to some kind of academic standard), and we were in a meeting with his guidance counselor and the principal. The parent said to me ‘Well, what about that time you picked him up in class and embarrassed him in front of the entire class?’ I was mortified. When the bell rang, the student who was in the meeting had to leave to go to class and the parents said to me, ‘We’re really sorry about our son’s behavior and we’re sorry you have to deal with it.’ I thought to myself, Are you kidding me? These parents were afraid of their own son, so they had to call me out, in front of my boss, for something that they didn’t even care about to appease their son. It did teach me a good lesson not to put wrestling moves on students anymore.”
Despite this experience that he had, Mr. McNutt has said that the most rewarding experience as a teacher is that, “…you don’t reach every kid, but some you do, and I have a short stack of thank you notes from students and parent over the years and as trite as it sounds, making a difference in a student’s life is the most rewarding part of the job.”
We also asked Mr. McNutt how he thinks that he has impacted his students over the years. According to him, “some students I’ve driven away from math, and some students are math teachers because I inspired them. Some students probably hated school because of me, and some students were eager to get to my class every day. The vast majority of students fall somewhere in between. I like to think I had a more positive impact on kids than negative, but that may just be wishful thinking. I threw out all the negative emails and notes I got over the years and only kept the positive ones so judging by those, I was a great teacher.”
Mr. McNutt also shared that he has fond memories of many students, naming a few in particular: “there are so many memorable students–Kristen Russo, Mike Jerauld, Marina Alex, Shawn DeRyder, Erin Black, the list goes on and on, students that I’ll never forget.”
As he moves on to other things, Mr. McNutt leaves Wayne Hills students and teachers with two wise pieces of advice: “the first is ‘don’t wish your life away.’ By that I mean, don’t say, ‘I can’t wait until high school is over,’ or ‘I just wish baseball would end.’ You never get these days back, enjoy them and stay in the moment because there will come a time that you wish you could go back. Second, ‘Put your stupid phone down.’ That one is pretty self-explanatory.”
Looking forward to his retirement, Mr. McNutt plans to spend it by indulging in his hobbies: “I have a thousand hobbies and plan to do them all. I’m a cabinetmaker so enjoy carpentry and building furniture, I enjoy small engine repair, I play the guitar, I like to read and play golf, I plan to go to the gym, walk my dog, spend time with my wife, and maybe take some college courses in subjects that interest me, as well as travel.”
Lastly, Mr. McNutt shared a few things that he will especially miss from Wayne Hills. “Well, I can’t say summers off because I’ll have that,” he admitted. “But, I’ll miss my friends, I’ll miss my students, I’ll miss being part of a team, but mostly I’ll miss teaching. I’ve been a teacher for a long time, and I’ve enjoyed it, and I’ll miss it. What I won’t miss is the 5:50 am alarm.”
Overall, Mr. McNutt has exciting plans for retirement and will definitely miss his time spent here at Hills. Thank you for everything you have done Mr. McNutt and we hope you have a great retirement! We will all miss you!
